Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 1, 2025
"Do you remember, Master," said Bes when he had finished laughing, as he wiped his brow with some damp moss, "how, once far away up the Nile you charged a mad elephant with a spear and saved me who had fallen, from being trampled to death?" I, Shabaka, answered that I did. "Yes," went on Bes, "you saved me from that elephant, though it seemed death to you.
Still it is true that as a goatskin often holds good wine, so a dwarf should not always be judged by what can be seen of him." Then he went away. "It seems that we are rich again, Son, who have been somewhat poor of late years," said my mother, looking at the bags of gold. "Also, there are the pearls which doubtless are worth more than the gold. What are you going to do with them, Shabaka?"
"Because they are brave men, O King, and I would not see the bones of such cracked by tame beasts in a cage." "Is my judgment registered?" asked the King. "Not yet, O King," answered the head scribe. "Then it has no weight and can be suspended without the breaking of the law. Shabaka, thus stands our wager.
"Prince Peroa and Egyptians, you have conveyed to me certain commands sealed with the Signet of signets, which I think was stolen by yonder Shabaka. Now hearken; until this matter is made clear I will obey those commands thus far. I will return with my army to Sais and there wait until I have received the orders of the Great King, after report made to him.
Hearken, O Shabaka, to-morrow you start back to Egypt, bearing letters from me to my vassal Peroa, and to my Satrap Idernes, bidding Peroa to hand over this lady Amada to Idernes and bidding Idernes to send her to the East with all honour and without delay, that she may enter my household as one of my wives."
"Well, Shabaka," he went on, "in Persia royal blood is common also, though some of us think it looks best when it is shed. What else are you?" "Good trades, all of them, Shabaka. But why came you here?"
"Your pardon, O King of kings," I said, "but it is not enough. I am a hunter and to such, priceless pearls are of little use. But to me that dwarf is of much use in my hunting." "So be it, Shabaka, then I will add to the wager. If you win, together with the pearls I will give you the dwarf's weight in solid gold."
Indeed I could see that he was troubled. His gaze fell upon us and his features changed to a pleasant smile. "Greeting, Cousin Shabaka," he said. "I am glad that you have returned safe from the East, and burn to hear your tidings. I pray that they may be good, for never was good news more needed in Egypt." "Greeting, Prince," I answered, bowing my knee.
"I do not know, O Idernes," answered Peroa; "I only know that the lord Shabaka brought them from the East. Inquire of him, if it be your pleasure." "Shabaka again " began Idernes, but I cut him short, saying, "Yes, O Satrap, Shabaka again. I won those pearls in a bet from the Great King, and with them a certain weight of gold.
Oh! yes, some escaped though the men of Thebes and country folk murdered many of them and but a few ever won back to the East to tell the tale of the blotting out of the mighty army of the King of kings and of the doom dealt to him by the great black bow of Shabaka the Egyptian. I stood there gasping, when suddenly I heard a voice at my side. It said,
Word Of The Day
Others Looking